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November, 2007

  1. Sex and Politics

    November 22, 2007 by Geoff

    Well, that should earn some click-throughs! But a fascinating article over at Online Opinion on the link between gender and voting intentions. From the post:

    “The final way that gender can affect elections is perhaps the most surprising of all. It turns out that the sex of your children can change the way you vote. In studies looking at Germany and the United Kingdom, Andrew Oswald and Nick Powdthavee have shown that parents with daughters are more likely to be left-wing, while parents with sons are more likely to be right-wing. What is particularly interesting about these studies is that the sex of your child is entirely random, so we know that the association is truly causal. Moreover, the effects are more than trivial. Oswald and Powdthavee estimate that every additional daughter makes you two percentage points more likely to vote for a left-wing party.” – Your sex can drive the way you vote, Online Opinion

    So Gerry and Melinda, if you’re reading – I guess you’ll be voting extremist left wing then :P


  2. When interest is fading…

    November 21, 2007 by Geoff

    it’s time for a new theme. Obviously activity on TheGeoffRe(y)port has been a bit scarce, with most of my attention going towards wedding preparations, and the excess being exerted onto the grand venture that is amateur theology. But I want to get back going on here – post some more random thoughts, talk politics and sport, give general personal updates. So we’ll see.

    I’m still not yet happy with the header: I think we’ll play around with it a little bit more yet. But I’ve decided that it was time for something a little less dark and wintery. The image in the polaroid will rotate in the near future, at the moment it’s just the single photo. It will be a bit of wait and see with this theme I feel: I like it, but I’m not in love with it. It might take some tweaking.


  3. Shame – Australia Named Worst Carbon Emitter per Capita

    November 15, 2007 by Geoff

    From the BBC:

    A study of the world’s power stations has shown the extent to which developed countries produce more carbon dioxide per head than emerging economies.

    Australians were found to be the world’s worst polluters per capita, producing five times as much carbon from generating power as China.”

    But we’ll still have an election based on who will keep interest rates lower and give the biggest tax cuts.